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In this note two results are established for energy functionals that are given by the integral of $ W(\mathbf x,\nabla \mathbf u(\mathbf x))$ over $\Omega \subset\mathbb{R}^n$ with $\nabla \mathbf u \in BMO(\Omega;{\mathbb R}^{N\times n})$, the space of functions of Bounded Mean Oscillation of John & Nirenberg. A version of Taylor's theorem is first shown to be valid provided the integrand $W$ has polynomial growth. This result is then used to demonstrate that, for the Dirichlet, Neumann, and mixed problems, every Lipschitz-continuous solution of the corresponding Euler-Lagrange equations at which the second variation of the energy is uniformly positive is a strict local minimizer of the energy in $W^{1,BMO}(\Omega;\mathbb{R}^N)$, the subspace of the Sobolev space $W^{1,1}(\Omega;\mathbb{R}^N)$ for which the weak derivative $\nabla\mathbf u \in BMO(\Omega;{\mathbb R}^{N\times n})$., Comment: 8 pages

In this manuscript two $BMO$ estimates are obtained, one for Linear Elasticity and one for Nonlinear Elasticity. It is first shown that the $BMO$-seminorm of the gradient of a vector-valued mapping is bounded above by a constant times the $BMO$-seminorm of the symmetric part of its gradient, that is, a Korn inequality in $BMO$. The uniqueness of equilibrium for a finite deformation whose principal stresses are everywhere nonnegative is then considered. It is shown that when the second variation of the energy, when considered as a function of the strain, is uniformly positive definite at such an equilibrium solution, then there is a $BMO$-neighborhood in strain space where there are no other equilibrium solutions., Comment: 23 pages

The uniqueness of equilibrium for a compressible, hyperelastic body subject to dead-load boundary conditions is considered. It is shown, for both the displacement and mixed problems, that there cannot be two solutions of the equilibrium equations of Finite (Nonlinear) Elasticity whose nonlinear strains are uniformly close to each other. This result is analogous to the result of Fritz John (Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 25, 617-634, 1972) who proved that, for the displacement problem, there is a most one equilibrium solution with uniformly small strains. The proof in this manuscript utilizes Geometric Rigidity; a new straightforward extension of the Fefferman-Stein inequality to bounded domains; and, an appropriate adaptation, for Elasticity, of a result from the Calculus of Variations. Specifically, it is herein shown that the uniform positivity of the second variation of the energy at an equilibrium solution implies that this mapping is a local minimizer of the energy among deformations whose gradient is sufficiently close, in $BMO\cap\, L^1$, to the gradient of the equilibrium solution., Comment: 39 pages